Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Standards of Conduct
Concepts and Issues Paper
October, 1998
I. INTRODUCTION cial inducement for an officer to “look the other way,” law
enforcement authority is a source of many temptations that can
A. Purpose of the Document strain the limits of personal and professional integrity.
There are other, maybe not so obvious, sources of moral and
This document was designed to accompany the Model Policy
ethical conflict in police work. For example, most police officers
on Standards of Conduct developed by the IACP National Law
are required to deal with many persons and situations that reflect
Enforcement Policy Center. This paper provides essential back -
some of the more demeaning and dehumanizing aspects of life.
ground material and supporting documentation to provide
These situations can and often do have negative long-term side
greater understanding of the developmental philosophy and
effects on the attitudes, opinions, and philosophy of officers who
implementation requirements for the model policy. This material
are forced to deal with them on a day-to-day basis. The impres -
will be of value to law enforcement executives in their efforts to
sionable, idealistic young recruit may, over time, become disillu -
tailor the model to the requirements and circumstances of their
sioned, cynical, or frustrated, feeling that his or her efforts are
community and their law enforcement agency.
ineffectual and unappreciated. Such officers may be more tempt-
Unlike many of the policies developed by the National Law ed to adopt a “who cares?” attitude, to lose the ethical and moral
Enforcement Policy Center, law enforcement agencies should
focus that they originally brought to police work, to bend the
regard the present policy as pertinent to all members of their rules and possibly become involved in questionable or illegal
agency, not solely to sworn officers. While sworn personnel may conduct.
be at greater risk with regard to many of the issues addressed Frustrations arise from a variety of other sources. For exam -
herein, all members of police agencies should be cognizant of and ple, many officers perceive the legal system as being weighted far
may be held equally accountable for the mandates set forth in too heavily against law enforcement and in favor of criminal sus-
this policy. pects. Further, police officers often see other individuals or seg -
ments of society as flouting or “stretching” the law and getting
B. Background
away with or even being rewarded for it, while honest cops labor
It has been said that policing is a morally dangerous occupa - years in relatively low-paying, often dangerous, and many times
tion. Most officers who have been in line operations for even a thankless jobs.
limited period of time can affirm this view. The public is not total- Finally, one cannot overlook the fact that officers are often
ly unaware of this fact either. Indeed, most popular literature and caught in a moral dilemma by the very nature of their profession.
movie depictions of police work deal extensively with the moral Society asks police officers to control crime and to apprehend
and ethical dilemmas that officers face on the job. Police officers perpetrators while at the same time placing severe restrictions on
confront many temptations and difficult decisions that often the manner in which these can be accomplished. On the one
involve conflicting notions of what is right and wrong and what hand, for example, officers are rewarded for their effectiveness in
is expected from them. There are several issues in the police envi- apprehending criminals, but, should their zeal cross the bounds
ronment that set the stage for such moral and ethical dilemmas. established by law, these same efforts can be punished. These
Probably the most common among these is the fact that police seemingly conflicting demands may lead some officers to feel
officers possess substantial power that can be exerted for the ben- that the courts, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and others in the
efit or detriment of many individuals. The legal right to employ criminal justice system are working at odds with them and the
coercive force to gain compliance of individuals, up to and good of society. The need to find the proper balance between pro-
including the use of deadly force, makes law enforcement unique tection of society and adherence to the dictates of individual
among occupations. Such power is attractive to some persons rights and liberties can be a difficult effort for many officers, one
who wittingly or unwittingly attempt to coopt police authority that often pits means against ends and involves them in organi-
for their own advantage. From the seemingly benign offer of a zational, professional, and personal dilemmas.
free cup of coffee for an officer on the beat to a substantial finan - In this context, the police officers’ standards of conduct can
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